The present disclosure relates generally to a thermostat for a building space. The present disclosure relates more particularly to a thermostat that communicates using wireless data transmission.
In many building systems, thermostats must communicate setpoints, temperatures, and other data to other devices, such as equipment controllers, in a building. Some thermostats utilize wireless radios to perform this communication of data. Thermostats that have wireless radios can connect to various networks or other devices via their wireless radios. These thermostats may not rely on wired means for communication. While thermostats with wireless radios may not require physical wires to communicate with other devices, the thermostat may use an increased amount of power due to wireless transmissions of the wireless radio.
In some cases, wireless thermostats are battery powered. Thermostats that are battery powered may require their batteries to be replaced periodically. A wireless radio of a wireless thermostat may have a large power draw and may be largely responsible for the depletion of the batteries of the wireless thermostat as compared to other power drawing components of the thermostat. For this reason, batteries of a wireless thermostat may need to be replaced frequently. Further, as the batteries of the wireless thermostat deplete, the wireless range of the wireless radio may also decrease, affecting the performance of the wireless radio and potentially affecting conditioning of a building.